Considering how we’ve heard how Marvel intends to reboot certain underperforming film franchises — the Fantastic Four and Daredevil being two that spring to mind — MTV has some interesting news about the Spirit of Vengeance himself. Namely, that a reboot is not in Johnny Blaze’s future.
“This story picks up eight years after the first film. You don’t have to have seen the first film. It doesn’t contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we’re pretending that our audience hasn’t seen the first film,” David Goyer told MTV. “It’s as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later—he’s just in a much darker, existential place.”
Goyer said he hoped that the next film — which will be darker and less over-the-top — would do the Ghost Rider franchise what Casino Royale did to reenergize the James Bond series. The thing I’m curious about is: will Nicholas Cage return? On the one hand, he wasn’t exactly hitting Leaving Las Vegas levels with the last film, but on the other hand, his recent financial troubles may make him a bit of a bargain for Marvel. What say you, Rama readers?
November 9th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I never really got why they casted Nicholas Cage for the role. I would have expected somebody much younger.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
“Goyer said he hoped that the next film — which will be darker and less over-the-top — would do the Ghost Rider franchise what Casino Royale did to reenergize the James Bond series.”
The problem I have with this statement is there was only one Ghost Rider film, where as there had been 20 films prior to Casino Royale. It makes sense when the James Bond film were reenergized, the franchise needed it. Ghost Rider, they just did not do correctly the first time, though enjoyable, it could have been better.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Ummm, David, the main reason Casino Royale “reenergized” the Bond Franchise was that it WAS a reboot.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
No, the main reason Casino Royale “reenergized” the Bond Franchise was that it was a good movie.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Goldeneye was a good movie too, but that didn’t really do much to revitalize the franchise. Didn’t do much to stop the subsequent installments from being terrible either. (Of course, given how awful Quantum of Solace was, CR looks to be continuing that trend.)
The whole reason Casino Royale was so widely acclaimed and critically embraced was because it threw out every cliche the bond films had been wallowing in for the past decade. If Casino Royale had featured Daniel Craig playing a smirking ladies’ man with a loadout of ridiculous gadgets instead of a borderline sociopath, nobody would have cared about the movie.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Fantastic movie Nicholas Cage Best man actor!
November 10th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Yeah, I’d still chalk up Casino Royale’s success to being good, not a reboot. Do you really think that most of the people who went to see it knew that Bond wouldn’t care how his drink was made? No way. Most people go into movies knowing maybe two sentences about the plot. They aren’t harping on details like that.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Casino Royale was quite specifically made to be a reboot of the Bond franchise; there’s tons of interviews and the like pre-release to support that that was the intention.
As someone else pointed out, Casino Royale did away with the older Bond trappings and made it a grittier, bloodier Bond film. He wasn’t elegant, charming or suave. And gone too were the nefarious comic-book like villains.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Fixing Ghost Rider’s voice would instantaneously go a long way towards making the sequel better.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:48 am
I enjoyed Ghost Rider. It was a goofy title back in the seventies and the film perfectly replicated that feeling. Naysayers should read up on the first series and then judge the movie.
A darker film would be in line with the progression of the book as well. Cage and his toupee should also return.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
please cast someone else. PLEASE!